High speed tape punch



Sept. 5, 1961 K. ALONAS HIGH SPEED TAPE PUNCH Filed 001;. 2, 1957 INVENTOR KAY ALONAS FIG.

2,998,913 HIGH SPEED TAPE PUNCH Kay Alonas, Skokie, 111., assignor to Teletype Corporation, Chicago, 11]., a corporation of Delaware 'Fiied Oct. 2, 1957, Ser. No. 687,683

1 Claim. (Cl. 234-115) This invention relates to tape perforators and more particularly to perforators for recording indicia in information storing tapes.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple tape perforator operable at high speed.

Another object of the invention is to provide a tape perforator, for use in data processing, having punch selecting means which requires only a momentary energization to completely select a punch for operation.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a tape perforator wherein a punch selector upon being selected for actuation will be latched in position to operate its associated punch until a punching cycle is substantially complete.

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, as applied to a perforator for punching a five unit code in telegraph tape, there is provided a continuously oscillating punch actuator bar having associated therewith a plurality of interposer members each mounted to slide on the head of a punch, individual to it, upon energization of an electromagnet, also individual to it. The interposer I members have latch members individual to them for latching them in operative association with the punch actuator bar, from the time they are moved into opera- States Patent T tive association with the punch actuator bar, and the bar starts to move them, until the bar is oscillated back to its inoperative position, whereby an electromagnet which has been energized may be de-energized shortly after the punch actuator bar starts to move the interposer member.

A more complete understanding of the invention may be had by reference to the accompanying drawing Wherein the single figure, designated FIG. 1, is a vertical sectional view taken longitudinally through an apparatus embodying the invention.

Referring now to the drawing, it will be seen that the apparatus comprises a base member 5 on which there is suitablymounteda main support or back plate 6. There is also mounted on the base plate 5 a front plate (not shown) which serves to support various components of the apparatus together with the main support plate or back plate 6. A main drive shaft 7 is suitably journalled in the front and back plates and has fixed to it an eccentric 8 which is in turn encircled by an eccentric drive ring 9 forming a part of a crank arm 11. Thus, upon rotation of the shaft 7 the crank arm 11 will be recipro cated to impart'oscillation to a rocker member 12. The rocker member 12 is pivoted on a shaft 13, that extends between the back plate 6 and the front plate (not shown), and is pivotally connected at 14 to the crank arm 11. The rocker member 12 comprises two arms 15, one of which is shown andthe other which is not shown. These two arms are mounted adjacent the back plate 6 and the front plate (not shown) and are inter-connected by a stripper bar 16 and by a punch actuator bar 17. The punch actuator bar 17 is mounted on the arms 15 by means of the screws 18.

The stripper bar 16 is provided with a plurality of slots 19 adapted to receive the shanks 20 of a plurality of perforator pins or punches 21 and will retract any punch that had been operated upon the upward stroke of the rocker member 12. If a code of perforations to be perforated in a tape 29 is the usual S-unit telegraph code there will be five of the punches 21 provided, only one of which is shown. The punches are freely reciprocable in a punch block 22 which is mounted between the back Patented Sept. 5, 1961 plate 6 and the front plate (not shown). The punch block 22 consists of a guide portion 24 and a die block 25. The guide block 24 and die block 25 are spaced apart to provide a tape slot through which the tape 29 is guided. Y

The tape 29 may be provided with a plurality of feed holes 31 which extend throughout its length, prior to the handling of the tape by the feed holes may be punched while other perforations are being formed in the tape as is usual in this general type of apparatus. These feed holes are provided for cooperation with feed pins 32 that extend from the periphery of a feed wheel 33. The tape is urged into engagement with the feed wheel 33, so that the holes 29 will be engaged by the pins 32, by a slotted tape guide 34 that is spring pressed against the surface of the feed wheel 33 and is slotted so that the pins 32 may pass through it as the feed wheel 33 is rotated.

The feed wheel 33 is mounted upon a feed wheel shaft 35 for rotation with the shaft when a ratchet 36, also fixed to the shaft 35, is caused to rotate step by step by a pawl 37. The pawl 37 has formed on it an eccentric drive ring 38 which encircles an eccentric 39 that is mounted on a shaft 49. The shaft 40 is rotated in timed relation to the rotation of the main drive shaft 7 by any suitable mechanism (not shown). The pawl 37 is urged into engagement with the ratchet 36 by contractile spring 41 that is connected to the pawl intermediate the ends of the pawl, and is suitably attached to the back plate 6. A detent 42 carried on a lever 43 is urged into engagement with the ratchet 36 by a spring 44 and establishes uniform steps of advancement of the ratchet.

Positioned adjacent to the upper end of the punch block 22 are a plurality of hairpin type springs 47 which encircle a rod 48 extending from the back plate 6 to the front plate (not shown) and each spring 47 has one end in engagement with the upper surface of the punch block and has the other end in engagement with a head 49 of one of the punches 21. Thus, the springs 47 tend to hold the heads 49 of the punches 21 against interposer members 50. There is one interposer member 50 for each of the punches 21 and these interposer members 50 are pivotally connected by means of pins 51 to armature extensions 52 of armatures 53. V g

There is provided one armature 53 and one armature extension 52 for each of the interposer members '50. The armatures 53 are associated with electromagnets 54,

on brackets secured to the back plate 6. If necessary, the electromagnets 54 may be mounted in an echelon staggered arrangement so that they will be properly aligned with their respective interposer members 50. A

springrbracket56 individual to each armature extension 52 is mounted on the main bracket 55 and has a spring 57 adjustably attached thereto by means of ajthumb screw 58. The other end of the spring 57 is atta'ched to the armature extension 52 and tends to rock it in a counterclockwise direction, thus, to move the armature 53 away from the electromagnet 54. A cross plate 59 carries a plurality of adjustable abutment members 60 which serve to limit the amount of rotation in a counterclockwise di-' rection of the armature extension 52. This cross plate 59 extends from the back plate 6 to the front plate (not shown) and is L-shaped in cross section to support on its bottom portion a guide bracket 61.

The guide bracket 61 is of U-shaped cross section and has at its left side, as viewed in FIG. 1, a plurality of slots 62 formed in it to guide a horizontally disposed portion 63 of the interposer member 50. The right-hand leg of the bracket 61 has a guide plate 64 fixed to it by means of screws 65, which guide plate is provided with slots 67 for engaging and guiding a second horizontally urged to rock in a counterclockwise direction by contractile springs 74 individual to them. The springs 74 are connected to depending arms of the latch 70 and to a plate 75 fixed to the upper surface of the punch block 24. Oscillation of the latches 70 under the influence of the springs 74 is limited by adjustable stop members 76 threaded into the support bracket 73 which in turn is mounted on a plate 77 that extends across from the back plate 6 to the front plate. Each of the interposer members 50 has a depending portion 78 which extends from its horizontally extending portion 66 to connect with a head portion. The springs 47 which hold the heads 49 of the punches 21 against the interposer members 50 will hold the upper surface of portion 66 of the interposer member against the upper ends of the slots 67. Consequently, when the actuator bar 17 is in its uppermost position there will be clearance between the head portion 79 of the interposer member and the bar 17 so that the head portion 79 may readily be moved into and out of alignment with the bar 17.

As shown in the drawing the head portion 79 of one interposer member 50 is positioned between the punch actuator bar 17 and the head 49 of the punch 21, and a latching surface 82 of the latch 70 is in engagement with the latching surface 69 of the interposer member 50. This condition has occurred due to the fact that one of the electromagnets 54 has been energized and had attracted its armature 53, thus to move its interposer member 50 to the left into the lateral position shown, while the punch actuator bar 17 was in its uppermost position and the bar had then been oscillated downwardly. When one of the electromagnets 54 is not energized its spring 57 tends to rock its armature extension 52 over to the point where a portion of it would engage with the abutment member 60, thus, to carry another one of the interposer members 50 to its extreme right-hand position. When an interposer member 50 is in its extreme righthand position the punch actuator bar can oscillate idly without actuating its associated punch 21 since the bar 17 can move down between the head 79 and depending portion 78 of the unselected interposer member 50.

In the operation of the apparatus power froma suitable drive motor (not shown) drives the shaft 7 and the shaft 40 in timed relation one to another. While the shafts 7 and 40 are thus rotating in timed relation one to another, power may be supplied to energize any one or any number of the electromagnets 54 at a time when the eccentric 8 has moved the crank arm 11 to its uppermost position and consequently the punch actuator bar 17 has been raised to itsuppermost position. As shown in the drawings, the punch actuator bar has moved down almost to the bottom of its stroke and as soon as the punch actuator bar 17 starts to move down any of the interposer members 50, which have been moved to the left due to the energization of their respective electromagnets 54, will be latched by their latches and will be held in their left-hand position even though the electromagnet 54 is only energized momentarily and thereafter is de-cnergized. Consequently, the interposer members 5% which have been moved to the left will be held in their operative positions by the latches 70 during the entire stroke of punch actuator bar 17 and its retraction almost to the end of its upward movement. Thus, it is not necessary to hold the electromagnets 54 energized for an appreciable length of time and, as a consequence, the operation of the apparatus may be carried on at very high speeds. Any one of the interposer members 58 which has not been moved to the left by the energization of its electromagnet 54 will be held against the base of its slot 67 after the head 79 of the unselected interposer member 50 has been moved, at the end of a previous cycle, to the right across the head 49 of the punch 21, whereas those interposer members 50 which have been selected for operation by the energization of their respective electromagnets 5 will be latched in position in alignment with the head 49 of the punch, and will be heid in that position due to the interengagement of the latching surfaces 69 and 82 on the interposer member 59 and latch 70, respectively.

Those punches 21 which have been selected for operation by their respective interposer members 50 and have been operated to punch a hole in the tape 29 will if necessary be positively retracted from the die block 25 by the stripper bar 16 when the rocker member 12 starts its clockwise oscillation and will then be resiliently moved up into engagement with their associated interposer members 50 by their springs 47.

Although a specific embodiment of the invention has been described hereinbefore, it will be understood that various modifications of the structure may be made without departing from the invention.

What is claimed is:

A tape perforator comprising a constantly oscillating punch actuator bar, means for feeding a tape in timed relation to the oscillation of said punch actuator bar, a plurality of punches aligned with said bar and disposed transversely of the path of movement of said tape, a plurality of interposer members individual to said punches slidably mounted for movement transversely of the path of oscillation of said bar into position to be actuated by said bar for actuating said punches, means for selectively moving said interposer members to position to be actuated by said bar, a latch individual to each interposer member positioned to hold its interposer member in operative association with the bar upon movement of said interposer member to operative relation to the bar, and spring means normally holding said punches in a predetermined unactuated position and for moving said interposer members out of latching relation with their respective latches in returning the punches to their unactuated positions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,114,905 Murray Oct. 27, 1914 2,390,435 Gubisch Dec. 4, 1945 2,775,297 Cunningham Dec. 25, 1956 2,775,300 Hoffman Dec. 25, 1956 

